Country seeking window cleaning ban

SINGAPORE — After eight maids fell to their deaths while cleaning the windows of high-rise apartments, the Indonesian Embassy is seeking a ban on the practice, according to the Star Tribune.

Indonesia, which supplies about half of Singapore''s 200,000 maids, is asking employment agencies to include a clause in work contracts that prohibits maids from cleaning the outside of windows or hanging laundry from high-rise apartments, the article stated.

According to the article, already in 2012, eight maids have died after falling out of windows while working, five of whom were cleaning windows.

Local media have published photos of maids squatting on windowsills, crawling on ledges or reaching dangerously off-balance to clean window exteriors of high-rise apartment buildings, the article noted.